What ADP Means In Fantasy Football (And How To Use It To Your Advantage)

Michael Fabiano | Aug 1, 2025

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels is the third quarterback coming off the board based on FantasyPros ADP data. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

These days, fantasy football managers have a lot of tools at their disposal.

From player rankings and cheat sheets to lists of sleepers, breakouts, and busts and a litany of advanced stats and metrics, there is no shortage of data to help you draft a successful fantasy team. Another valuable tool is what’s called average draft position (ADP for short).

ADP is a list of players in order of where they’re being drafted overall and based on their offensive position. So, how is this list valuable to you, the fantasy fan, you might ask? Well, I’ve got those answers for you … let’s discuss the major talking points about all ADP data.

ADP Data Markets

ADP data will tell you how people in the fantasy football world value a player, on average. This can help managers avoid reaching or over-drafting for a player they might be targeting. For example, say you’re really high on Jaguars rookie wide receiver Travis Hunter. If you look at ADP data (I’ll use FantasyPros), he’s the WR27 coming off the board at 60.0.

So, say you are in the middle of the fourth round and you don’t have another pick until after the 60th overall pick, you probably want to grab Hunter in Round 4 or risk losing him. If you didn’t have average draft position data, it would be difficult to gauge his draft position.

ADP Sleepers and Bargains

Finding sleepers who go on to meet and exceed expectations is a big part of having a solid draft. It’s also a good idea to identify where these sleepers might be going in the draft so you don’t lose him.

Let’s say you’re high on 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and want to land him. Checking the ADP data, you can find out that he’s coming off the board, on average, at 94.3. So, once you get into the eighth round of your draft, you better try and get him.

The same sort of thing goes for potential bargains in drafts. Let’s say you like to wait on a quarterback, so the ability to determine where the position starts to thin out is valuable. By looking at the data, we find that borderline fantasy starters begin to come off the board at pick 93 (Dak Prescott). Once you get to that part of your draft (Round 8-9), you should be keeping tabs on how many quarterbacks are still on the board who you’d use as a starter.

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce has seen his draft stock fall compared to last season. His ADP is now 62.0 based on FantasyPros data. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Avoid Overdrafting

There are always players you really want to land in a fantasy draft, but that doesn’t mean you should commit the fantasy sin of “overdrafting.” Basically, that’s the act of taking a player way before he would have otherwise been taken. Let’s say you’re a big Chiefs fan, you love Taylor Swift, or both … well, you probably want to draft tight end Travis Kelce.

However, that doesn’t mean you should draft him in the first three rounds. He used to be well worth that sort of draft capital, but no longer. In fact, he’s now more of a fifth or sixth round selection. So as bad as you might want to him, you shouldn’t stray too far from ADP because you’re very likely missing out on a more valuable player than Kelce … and chances are, based on his average draft position, you could have waited and still gotten him.

Building a Draft Strategy

Every draft is going to be different, so you can’t take average draft position as a be all, end all tool. I’ll give you an example … in most of the drafts I’m in with fellow analysts, there are going to be plenty of good quarterbacks on the board in Round 8 and even far beyond. That might not be the case in a “home” or casual league. Maybe some folks see more value in the position, so you wouldn’t be able to wait as long to fill it or risk missing out.

That’s why it’s important to know your league rules, scoring system and your opponents.

Still, you can use ADP data to help build a draft strategy. On FantasyPros, you’ll find that most of the top 36 picks are running backs and wide receivers with a few scattered field generals and tight ends mixed in. That should tell you that grabbing backs and wideouts will be important in the earlier rounds. You can also find out that good tight ends are still on the board just outside the top 60 picks, and some are even still available into the 90s. So, if you miss out on a tight end you wanted earlier, ADP suggests you can wait a few rounds.

The same sort of situation occurs at quarterback, as I’ve mentioned above, so you can wait on the position in most leagues. Finally, and obviously, don’t draft a kicker or defense until the last two to three rounds. The first kicker (Brandon Aubrey) has an ADP of 167, and the first defensive team (Denver Broncos) doesn’t come off the board until pick 172.

Average draft position data can be found on most reputable fantasy platforms, including FantasyPros. If you’re looking for ADP data from high-stakes leagues (where people spend a ton of money on league fees), you can also take a look at the NFFC ADP database.